I really need help!

Question
Hi,
My name is Autumn from K-Town. I have a 14 week old chihuahua puppy whom I find impossible to house train. My friend has one a week younger who is already house trained. I really need some help. My daddy comes home from Afghanastan soon and if she is still not house trained I will be forced to give her up. Her name is Lola and she is my baby. Please help me.
                  Autumn
              K-Town

Answer
Hi Autumn,

I'd say your friend is very lucky in having her puppy housetrained so early.
You really can't compare the two dogs though. Some dogs just housetrain later than others, some time's it's the fault of the owner, sometimes it's not.

Toy breed dogs are notoriously harder to housetrain. Having a small breed puppy trained before it's a year old is an acceptable time frame.

To avoid accidents in your home, keep Lola 100% supervised. Avoiding mistakes works much better than disciplining mistakes. Quite often a puppy may mistake your discipline, as "Uh Oh, I better not let my owner see me pooping on the floor, I better do it when she isn't looking."  Then you get a dog that poops in the house, but always behind your back, or the couch.
So remember, rewarding correct behavior works tenfold over reprimanding incorrect behavior, as the puppy doesn't always know what she did wrong.

Use a crate while potty training Lola. She should be in the crate while you are at work or at school, sleeping, or anytime you are not able to watch her. Dogs are den animals so being in a crate is natural for them. Puppies will cry and want to be released at first, but be patient, she will get used to being in the crate and come to enjoy it. Make the crate a happy place, not a punishment. Teach Lola a command when going in the crate, for example, kennel or go to your room, this will make it easier then trying to force or push the dog into the crate later. Also, dogs are pack animals so it's helpful if you keep the crate in the bedroom where the rest of the "pack" is sleeping. This is a tough one in the beginning because the puppy may cry and you will be tempted to let her out. Tough love, if the puppy is loose in the house then it will have opportunity to potty anywhere it pleases, keep the puppy crated at night until she can be trusted in the house. You may have to let Lola outside during the night and during your lunch break during the day.

You can read more about crate training here:

http://perfectpaws.com/crt.html

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=23&A=1129&S=1

Each time Lola needs to go outside, go with her. Take her on a leash so you can be sure she goes to the same area of the yard each time. This way Lola can smell itself and know what she's supposed to do.
Only give Lola about 10 minutes to potty, if she doesn't go, then bring her in and put it back in the crate, wait 15 - 30 minutes and take it back outside. Don't let Lola play until she potties. Playing is a reward, don't reward bad behavior.

Puppies are just little kids, they go outside, get excited, and forget why they went outside in the first place. It helps to give a command to potty, that way it learns a little faster what is expected, and later in life, if your running late, you can give the potty command and your dog will potty and be done with it.

When Lola potties outside - give a treat, play with a favorite toy, say "good girl", whatever, just make sure that she thinks, "Wow! Going potty outside is loads of fun, I'm going to do this again!"

When you are at home, and Lola is not in the crate, consider using a long leash to tie her to you. If she is loose in the house she can gain the opportunity to sneak off and go to the bathroom. The idea in house training is to avoid all accidents, the tying her to you works for that purpose.

Take Lola outside immediately following meals, drinking, playtime or excitement, when you first get home from school, and first thing in the morning. If she gets excited she may have an accident, avoid the trouble by taking the puppy outside.  Take Lola outside often. - try to take her outside every hour. If your home, why not take the puppy outside for frequent potty breaks, she'll learn that much quicker and you'll avoid accidents, she probably has to "go" anyway.

It seems very extreme to take Lola out so often, but you need to prevent her from going in the house, it's her habit right now and it MUST stop. Once you can can trust her, you can cut back on how often you take her out, but not on how you supervise her.

If Lola has an accident, don't blame her.  Roll up a newspaper, and hit yourself on your bottom. Accidents are always YOUR FAULT for not supervising the puppy, or not having her in her crate.  Clean up the mess without shouting or yelling, and make a promise to yourself that next time YOU'LL do a better job in monitoring Lola.

Mistakes are going to happen so plan for it. If you see Lola make a "mistake" act quickly, say "NO!", and run her outside to the potty place. If you didn't see the mistake happen, bite your lip, and clean the mess. Use an odor neutralizer like Nature's Miracle or Simple Solution - these products neutralize odor instead of covering it up. You don't want Lola going back to the same spot on your floor or carpet.


I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,
Patti